The Return of Mr. Bean

The Return of Mr. Bean
Season	1
Episode	2
Air date	November 5, 1990
Written by	Richard Curtis, Robin Driscoll, Rowan Atkinson
Directed by	John Howard Davies
Previous	Mr. Bean
Next	The Curse of Mr. Bean

The Return of Mr. Bean is the second episode of the live-action TV series. It originally aired over ITV on November 5, 1990.

Plot

Act One: The Busker

Mr. Bean sees a busker playing a saxophone and wants to drop some change in his case. However, he finds he has no change and does not want to spend a paper bill. So, he places a handkerchief on the ground in front of him and dances to the saxophone music until an elderly woman leaves Bean a coin, which he then drops into the saxophonist's case and continues into the tunnel.

Act Two: Shopping

Bean tries out his new American Express charge card at an Allders department store which is having a sale. Before walking through the perfume department, he flashes his card. Bean, not liking the smell of perfume, coughs and holds his breath as he walks through the department. He then resumes to shop by testing everything he wants to buy before choosing it. First, before choosing a toothbrush, Bean opens its packaging and brushes his teeth with the toothbrush, then puts it back and chooses another toothbrush from the display. Then, before choosing a bath towel, he wears it around his waist. Bean ascends on an escalator, but when it ends, he stops moving and does not realize this. After realizing this, he walks to the kitchen department, takes a potato out of his coat pocket, and peels it with a knife he wants to buy. Before buying a frying pan, he pulls a fish out of his coat pocket to see which frying pan it fits on. After choosing the one that fits, he goes to a display of telephones, but after assuming the disconnected display models are broken, he chooses the telephone from the receptionist's desk and takes it with him, plug and all, presumably because he heard a dialing tone when he picked it up. Bean goes to the register and places his card on the counter. Another man's identical card gets covered under his brief case and accidentally takes Bean's card, so Bean quietly pick-pockets the man and gets his card back from the wallet. But when Bean puts the wallet pack in the man's pocket, his hand gets stuck in it and the man unwittingly pulls him all the way to the lavatory. Bean ends up in a toilet stall and uncomfortably watches the man sit on the toilet. However, after Bean's hand becomes free, he is stuck in the stall. However, the stall does not have toilet paper, so while the man looks for a roll, Bean offers him one. The man is grateful for this but becomes startled when he realizes Bean is in his stall.

Act Three: The Restaurant

Bean goes to a fancy restaurant on his birthday and gifts a birthday card to himself. He is endeared by what he wrote himself and displays the card on his table. Bean realizes he cannot afford most of the dishes on the menu, so he orders a steak tartare, which he expects to be a regular steak. Bean takes a hanger out of his trench coat and gives it to a waiter. Then, another waiter offers him to try the house wine, which he swiftly drinks, but before the waiter pours more wine, Bean stops him because he is driving and mimics driving drunk. Bean plays "Happy Birthday" by making a xylophone out of the knife, glasses, and plate on his table. He shows off a napkin a waiter gave him but loses it when he lets go of it while waving it and it lands on a neighbouring table. The steak tartare arrives, but Bean is disgusted by its taste and appearance, assuming it is half-cooked, so he cuts it up and hides the pieces in various places including the ashtray, tiny vase, hollowed-out bread roll, under the plate, and sugar basin on his table. After seeing the birthday card on Bean's table, a violinist plays "Happy Birthday" for Bean and waits for him to have a bite of the steak tartare. After putting it in his mouth, Bean spits the steak tartare down the violinist's trousers while his back is turned. Bean hides the rest of the dish in a woman's handbag. When Bean puts the handbag back, a waiter walks by and trips over Bean's extended leg. He spills his tray onto Bean's table, which provides him with an opportunity to cover up his actions by showing the waiter and the maître d' that the tartare has ended up everywhere he has hidden it. The maître d' apologizes and promptly moves Bean to another table, where the waiter brings out a free dish, which is another steak tartare, seemingly bigger than the first. Although Bean is appalled, he must eat it, as the maître d', the waiter, and the violinist are all watching him.

Act Four: The Queen

Mr. Bean is waiting to meet Queen Elizabeth II at a royal premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square cinema, but is quite unprepared (his nails and teeth are dirty, his breath smells, and his shoes are unpolished). He manages to rectify most of these problems to his satisfaction (using spit to polish his shoes, folding back the corners of a postcard to serve as a pocket handkerchief, and using a loose thread from a waitress (played by Matilda Ziegler who also plays his girlfriend Irma) uniform to floss his teeth), but when he uses his trouser's zip to clean his fingernail, the zip gets stuck, and he only manages to force it back up just before the Queen greets him. Preparing for a bow, Mr. Bean accidentally headbutts the Queen, who is knocked to the floor. As the episode ends during the confusion, Mr. Bean makes a run for it.

Cast

• Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean
• Dave O'Higgins as The Busker
• Paul McDowell as The Customer
• William Van Dyck as The Checkout Manager
• John Junkin as The Maître D'
• Roger Lloyd Pack as The Waiter
• Steve McNicholas as The Violinist
• Robin Driscoll as The Cinema Manager
• Matilda Ziegler as The Waitress
• Tina Maskell as The Royal

Videos

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1NsFQUZhb8 (First Upload on September 14, 2010)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtfQLyy43Xg (Second Upload on October 1, 2017 [Remastered Version])
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZhGGsmWYdM (Third Upload on August 10, 2018)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5yx197DtfI (Fourth Upload on December 3, 2022)

Trivia

• First appearance of the black and white opening sequence as well as the theme tune "Ecce Homo qui est faba". It is also the second episode to be shot entirely on video.
• Mr. Bean's American Express card is ironically registered to "THAMES TV PLC"
• Mr. Bean would again send himself a letter in the episode, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean".
• In 1991, it was announced 20th Century Fox had a feature film adaptation of Mr. Bean in development. They remade Act 4 into a short film: Mr. Bean Goes to a Première and attached it to their theatrical releases it was also included on the UK VHS rental release of Hot Shots! Part Deux.
• The Cinema Manager, seen standing left of Mr. Bean, was played by writer Robin Driscoll.
• The Waiterss, seen standing right of Mr. Bean, was played by Matilda Ziegler, who would go on to portray Mr. Bean's girlfriend and series regular, Irma Gobb, starting with the next episode.
• Mr. Bean is again dancing in the park with his Teddy Bear in the animated episode Mime Game where the lady drops the coin and he uses the coin to drop into the silver statue to see the silver statue's reaction.
• Mr. Bean would dance again in the movie Mr. Bean's Holiday based on the music which played from the speaker belonging to a CD seller. Unlike this episode, he and Stephan got a lot of money from the public and used the money to buy foods and bus tickets.
• Mr. Bean is again hiding the food into another's woman handbag in the movie Mr. Bean's Holiday. This time it's oyster, due to the effect from the episode Mr. Bean in Room 426. However unlike this episode, the woman was aware of something hidden inside her bag after her mobile phone was ringing and was very scared when she holding it.
• Mr. Bean would be arrested for accidentally following the man who had his card in his back pocket into the lavatory and also for accidentally headbutting the Queen because it is considered a physical offence against royalty.
  • It is unknown why other people, including journalists and photographers, didn't mind Mr. Bean's action.
  • This episode marks the first time that Mr. Bean commits an action which would normally be a crime or an offence, followed by "Tee Off Mr. Bean" (Wrecking groceries of a woman in an attempt to retrieve his golf ball, blowing up a car when his ball was stuck in the car's exhaust pipe, and littering from garbage truck), "Mr. Bean in Room 426" (Vandalism for marking holes on the wall of his hotel room and creating a hole to the neighbour's bathroom, and public nudity) and "Hair by Mr Bean of London" (Stowawaying in the train and ship to Moscow, Russia).
    • That said, his criminal offence is again (and clearly) committed in "Bean". He was arrested by Los Angeles Airport Police for gun fraudulent in airport in Los Angeles, California, and again for hacking into 3D Ride's computer to make the ride more dangerous (more exciting only for him) in the carnival by Los Angeles Police Department, but almost after vandalising Whistler's Mother, falsifying it using polished poster of the same painting, and stealing the original painting back home. Also, it would have been illegal to impersonate as a doctor for both Brutus and Jennifer. But in "Mr. Bean's Holiday", he was mistakenly thought for kidnapping a child, Stephan Dachevsky.
  • In a 2014 airing of this episode on Disney Channel Asia, the part where the man pulls his pants and underwear down in the bathroom stall was cut due to the half-nudity. Later, in 2016, also on Disney Channel Asia, the scene where the man next to Mr. Bean bows in front of the queen was edited out due to timing.
  • In Portugal VHS releases, the scene where a man pulls his pants and underwear down in the bathroom stall was cut due to half-nudity, and the scene where the man next to Mr. Bean bows in front of the queen was modified for the release. In the VHS release, his animation is edited out.
    • However, in later VHS releases, the episode is completely uncensored.

Gallery

A raw, uncooked steak.